Living in Sydney has its perks—beautiful beaches, sand and sunshine to name a few. But there’s something about the holiday season, that makes me long for the picturesque snow landscape I see on my yearly Christmas cards which look so different to our hot and humid late December temperatures.

I’ve dreamt of a white Christmas for a long time now. And although we only landed in snowy Canada at 11:50 pm on Christmas day, these last 10 minutes were quite enough and we were very happy to start 2016 on a cooler note than what we’re used to.

It’s been quite a while since and the year’s almost reaching its end. So as spring paves the way for summer, we’re reflecting on the trip we took early this year and sharing the photographs we captured along the way.

Located in Alberta’s Badlands, Drumheller was our first taste of sub-temperature weather and for that reason alone, it was truly memorable. We started off by heading to see the hoodoos which are naturally eroded rock formations that stand tall among Drumheller’s unique topography.  Although I jokingly described them as giant thumbs sticking out of the snow, seeing these formations dispersed through the landscape was unique. We climbed as high as we could, and walked around for as long as our bodies could stand -20 degrees. 

To escape the freezing winds, we followed this with a visit to the Royal Tyrell Museum of Paleontology. I view this place as Ross Geller’s secret haven and enjoyed it much more than I would have imagined. It’s Canada’s sole paleontology museum and home to one of the world’s largest dinosaur displays. If not for the fascinating displays, visit the museum to take a break from the outdoors if you decide to visit in winter like we did.

Our visit to Drumheller was a short and sweet day trip we took from Calgary and is the first of many upcoming travel diaries. Lots more snow coming up shortly, followed by our tropical getaway in Hawaii. Stay tuned.